Man with Hen (L'Homme à la poule)

Man with Hen (L'Homme à la poule) is a significant lithograph created by Marc Chagall in 1922. This compelling work represents the artist’s output during his return to Paris following the Russian Revolution, cementing his reputation within the European avant-garde. As an important example of the artist's printmaking practice, the work demonstrates Chagall’s mastery of the lithographic medium, which allowed for the creation of rich, velvety tones and fluid lines characteristic of the period.

Created in 1922, the piece bridges the artist’s earlier Cubist and fantastical leanings with a more defined modernist style. The subject matter, featuring a man interacting directly with a hen, taps into the deeply personal visual lexicon Chagall developed based on memories of his life in Vitebsk. He frequently incorporated animals, musicians, and floating figures into his compositions, utilizing them symbolically to represent spiritual longing, folklore, and the poetry of rural existence. Here, the man and the fowl are rendered with simplicity and tenderness, avoiding purely Cubist fragmentation while retaining a sense of emotional depth and whimsical surrealism.

Though his imagery remains steeped in Russian-Jewish memory, the technical sophistication of the work confirms his standing within the School of Paris. This phase was critical for Chagall, allowing him to focus heavily on graphic arts and book illustration, thereby making his unique visual language accessible through prints. L'Homme à la poule showcases the artist's ability to maintain the dreamlike quality of his canvases even in the relatively constrained format of the lithograph. This piece is today held in the prestigious collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), recognizing its value as a pivotal example of French modernist prints and a key component in understanding the graphic legacy of one of the 20th century’s most influential artists.